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Daily Devotion for May 8, 2015

Prayers

Scripture

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Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Lyrics to Consider the Lilies of the Field
Consider the Lilies of the Field
Joel Hemphill

Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow, how they grow.
Consider the birds in the sky,
How they fly, how they fly.

He clothes the lilies of the field.
He feeds the birds in the sky.
And he will feed those who trust him,
And guide them with His eye.

Consider the sheep of his fold,
How they follow where he leads.
Though the path may wind across the mountains,
He knows the meadows where they feed.

He clothes the lilies of the field.
He feeds the birds in the sky,
And he will feed those who trust him,
And guide them with his eye.

Consider the sweet, tender children
Who must suffer on this earth...

The pains of all of them he carried
From the day of his birth.
He clothes the lilies of the field,
He feeds the lambs in His fold,
And he will heal those who trust him,
And make their hearts as gold.

Prayer at Daybreak (by Archimandrite Sophronios)

O Lord Eternal and Creator of all things, who with your unknowable goodness called me to this life;
I have no life, no light, no joy or wisdom, no strength except in you, O God. I entreat you, teach me to pray aright. Purify me from all taint of flesh and spirit.
Bless this day which you give to me, your unworthy servant.

By the power of your blessing enable me, throughout this day, to speak and act to your glory with a pure spirit, with humility, patience,
love, gentleness, peace, courage and wisdom. Let me be always aware of your presence. By the power of your love, grant me to hold fast to that which is good.
Preserve me from every word or deed that corrupts the soul; from every impulse unpleasing in your sight and hurtful to my fellow man, my brothers and sisters.

This in Christ's name, I pray,

Amen.

To Remember God During the Day

Dear Heavenly Father, I lower my head before you and confess that I have too often forgotten that I am yours. Sometimes I carry on my life as if there were no God, and I fall short of being a credible witness to You. For these things I ask your forgiveness.

And I also ask for your strength. Give me a clear mind and an open heart so I may witness to You in my world. Remind me to be who You would have me to be regardless of what I am doing or who I am with. Hold me to You and build my relationship with You and with those You have brought into my life on earth.

Amen.

adapted from Taize Comm. 8/11/2014

Meditation

[To witness to the world, I need an open heart.]

Benediction

God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and Spirit of God amidst us, direct our way unto you. Make us to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you; to the end we may establish our hearts unblameable in holiness before you, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Amen.

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Romans 6:14 (KJV)

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Galatians 4:21-23 (Daily Prayer Bible)

Slavery and Freedom (Galatians #50)

21-23 Those of you who think you want to be subject to the Law, listen to what the Law itself says. Abraham had two sons, one of them with a slave and one with a freewoman. The son born to the slave was conceived in the flesh, but the one born to the freewoman was conceived in God’s promise.

Verbatim Bible

21 Tell me, the under law wishing to be, the law not you hear?

22 For it is written that Abraham two sons had, one from the slave girl and one from the free .

23 but the from-the-slave (masc.) had been born according to the flesh, while the from-the-freewoman had been born of a promise.

Notes on the Scripture

alatians 4 divides into four parts. Part 1 is the metaphor of a child who is destined to inherit a title and great wealth, yet is no better than a slave in his youth because he is subject to the discipline of guardians. This child is compared to the Hebrews under the Law, while Christians are compared to the child after he reaches the age of maturity.

Part 2 is direct discourse on the same subject. We are born as slaves to nature (“the elements”) including, perhaps, our natural instincts and the phony gods and superstitions men invent to explain or try to control nature. The Law is a second slavery; it frees us from the slavery to the elements by discipline. It is not freedom, but it prepares us for freedom. This ties into Part 1.

Part 3 is a break in Paul's long discourse about slavery, with a number of short (mostly one-sentence), even tangential, teachings. It ends with Paul’s wish that he was physically with the listeners so that he could understand their problems and thus be better able to respond.

The fourth part, which we begin today, is a third discourse on slavery, comparing Abraham’s two sons: Ishmael, born of a slave woman (Hagar), and Isaac, born of a free woman (Sarah). But the introductory sentence — “Those of you who think you want to be subject to the Law, listen to what the Law itself says” — is a statement, in and of itself, with a very powerful meaning.

It is almost ironical. Do, in your mind, what Paul suggest by this sentence that the Galatians do. (If you have not read through the last four books of the Pentateuch, or at least some significant portion of it, you might read a random chapter from the middle of Leviticus.) Who in their right mind would want to live like an Orthodox Jew, adding to it the myriad animal sacrifices required, and to top it all off, with no promise of an afterlife and, actually, no promise for remission of all sin (even though there are, in the old covenant, sacrifices required for both personal and corporate sins)?

The inference one might draw from this is that the old covenant, the Law of Moses, requires perfect adherence to a horrendously burdensome and complex body of laws in order to become righteous before God, and that such perfect adherence is impossible. Thus, he tells them, “if you think you want to be subject to the Law of Moses, read what it says!”

Just in case a listener doesn't get the message, though, Paul will tell them: so, to illustrate what he means by “listen to what the Law says,” Paul dedicates the rest of the chapter to the allegory of Hagar and Sarah.

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